Eckhart Tolle

Tape 5 

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And in most churches they don't know the depth of the meaning when Jesus says, "Deny thyself.  Don't know how they interpret it but the depth of that utterance is not recognized by most churches.  It's all there, oh. 

September 7th

Chasing awareness

The word awareness is sometimes mistakenly associated with a state found in time.  This is the "I got it/I lost it" syndrome.  The "I got it" sense happens when there is pure awareness without much conceptualization (i.e., "I am present").  The "I lost it" sense occurs when there is the experience of being lost in thought or emotion (i.e., "I am not present").  This can create a cycle in which you are chasing the state of awareness and trying to quiet thought and emotion.  This is still control and tends to keep the search going as you continuously fuel the idea that there is some state that you must find, maintain, or recreate.

Instead of treating awareness as a state that can be found or lost in time, notice the timeless opening in which all states happen.  Temporary states of thinking and not thinking, feeling and not feeling, and seeing and not seeing arise and fall within that opening.  The opening does not come and go.

In noticing that your true nature is that opening, the movement of chasing states and the notions of "I got it/I lost it" tend to relax naturally.  In this opening, anything can happen.  There is no "you" there resisting or controlling or trying to maintain or recreate anything that comes through the opening.  There is only the opening and whatever is coming through it.

Michael Brown

From PART V: 2. 

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In our minds we automatically associate the function of a facilitator with what we already know of the role of therapists and councilors, combined with the behavior we witness in therapeutic healers. Therefore, the immediate assumption is that a facilitator is someone who is nice, who makes us feel comfortable and safe, etc. Or, that they are someone who gives us a secure environment in which to express ourselves. This is correct; they do serve this purpose, but this is only part of the story. This is the part of the story we focus on when we declare we want to be a facilitator, or to be facilitated. Aside from the propensity for gentleness and kindness, an authentic facilitator is also required to be rude, insensitive, needy, devious, or seductive; to reflect whatever dysfunctional behavior we are hiding from ourselves. The question is: How many of us are detached enough from the importance of our reputations that we are willing to deface ourselves by portraying negative behavior patterns for the benefit of another?  

Chapter 85

'I am': The Foundation of all Experience

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Q: If I have to go beyond myself, why did I get the 'I am' idea in the first instance?

M: The mind needs a centre to draw a circle. The circle may grow bigger and with every increase there will be a change in the sense 'I am'. A man who took himself in hand, a Yogi, will draw a spiral, yet the centre will remain, however vast the spiral. A day comes when the entire enterprise is seen as false and given up. The central point is no more and the universe becomes the centre.